A database system stores collections of logically related data. One common type of database system is the relational database management system (RDBMS), which stores data in tables (or relations) that are arranged as rows and columns. To access data in a database system, requests according to a standard database query language are submitted to the database system to retrieve, update, or to delete data, as well as to manipulate various objects in the database system, including tables, definitions of tables, and so forth.
In certain applications, such as data warehousing applications, large amounts of data are stored in a database system. To provide rapid access of data contained in the database system, some database systems are implemented as parallel database systems. An example of a parallel database system is the TERADATA® database system from NCR Corporation. Some parallel database systems include a plurality of nodes, with each node having one or multiple processors. The nodes of the parallel database system are coupled by a network to enable intercommunication among the nodes. Tables are distributed across the nodes such that different portions of each table can be accessed concurrently in response to queries submitted by users.
An issue associated with a parallel database system having multiple nodes is that different versions of software may be stored on different nodes. Database administrators are continually updating database software to improve performance of database systems. To ensure that each of the nodes of a parallel database system is running the same version of software, a reconciliation procedure is usually performed to check the version of database software running on each node.
To perform the reconciliation of software versions running on the nodes of a parallel database system, inter-node communications are usually performed. Conventionally, in a reconciliation procedure, inter-node communications use point-to-point connections (e.g., TCP/IP or Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol connections) between any two nodes. If a parallel database system has a large number of nodes (e.g., hundreds or thousands of nodes), the point-to-point connections that have to be established between nodes in a conventional parallel database system can take up a large amount of time. Thus, the reconciliation procedure, which is usually performed at system restart, can take a relatively long period of time to run.